I arrived at the Denver, Marriott Tech Center
about 4:00 PM Thursday in anticipation of the show that would not begin
until lunchtime the next day. Most of the rooms were ready when the crowds
arrived Friday and I was determined to see, hear, and photograph every room.
With twice as many exhibitors as last year, it was a lot harder to cover all
the ground in 2005, and my report isn't intended to be exhaustive. Instead,
I'll concentrate on the rooms that really caught my ear, and share quick
impressions and images with you.

The Rocky Mountain Audio Festival surprised me
last year, providing a breath of fresh air and unique location compared to
other audio shows. I was taken by both the quality and quantity of high end
audio on display last year and this show did not disappoint, larger still
and even better organized than my last visit. The rooms sounded better to me
than a typical CES with more than a few rooms interesting enough to report
on.

The Walker Audio Proscenium Gold Reference
turntable system

The first was Tower suite 7224, where Lloyd
Walker's Proscenium Gold turntable and the Magic Diamond cartridge were
making music.

Phono step up was via the solid state Walker
Reference and the line stage was Walker's Tube Reference pushing signal into
a pair of Renaissance Monoblocks (push-pull tube design amps) playing
through Verity Audio Sarastro speakers.

The Walker Reference Rack, featuring (from
top to bottom), the Proscenium turntable, motor and phono amp (behind the
table); the Walker Reference Power Supply; the new Walker Audio Reference
Line Preamplifier; the Walker Ultimate Motor controller (bottom left) and
line preamplifier power supply (bottom right).

The Verity Audio Sarastro Loudspeaker

The combination of Lloyd's solid state phono
stage and Reference tube line made for a nice overall balance. I listened to
multiple LPs during several visits to this room and the sound was very good.
I did not look at the back of the Verity Audio speakers but wager they were
fitted with Lloyd Walkers HDLs, a product that I use in my own system.
[As a matter of fact, Albert, you're right; the Veritys were outfitted with
the latest revision of the Walker Audio High Definition Links. – Ye Olde
Editor]

At the Audio Unlimited room

A visit to room 7213 found my friend Ronnie
Caplan in charge, great guy and undisputed Koetsu expert. Ronnie spun
several LP's and answered questions for visitors, playing the music at a
comfortable (lower) average volume level than other exhibitors' rooms.

The Transrotor Atlantis/Koetsu combination in
action

His analog source was a Transrotor Atlantis
turntable with Koetsu cartridge stepped up by a Transrotor phono stage and
AirTight ATC-2 preamp. Airtight ATM-211 amps drove the Tannoy Yorkminster
loudspeakers while Running Springs brand power conditioning cleaned up the
power.

The Air Tight ATM-211 monoblock amplifier

This was a VERY sweet sounding room. No "Hi-FI"
sound, just music. The AirTight ATM-211 mono Blocks sounded a bit softer and
sweeter than the Air Tight ATM3 monoblocks found in my own system. Cables
were by Tara Labs and on static display were the Accuphase T-100 Tuner,
Accuphase C-2400 Preamp and Accuphase A-60 power amps.

The Accuphase lineup on display

Although the Accuphase DP-57 CD player was part
of the active system, I did not have the opportunity to hear it.

What I did hear made me want to just sit down
and listen. Beautiful, high quality sound not often heard at these shows,
particularly in the confines of smaller hotel rooms. This analog rig
delivered textural, seductive sound that made it hard for me to leave.

The Tannoy Yorkminster loudspeaker

In room 7030 I met Chris Brady and now
understand why so many Internet discussion groups are buzzing with
excitement over the Teres turntables.

The Teres 360 turntable on its
not-yet-named stand

Like Lloyd Walker, Chris Brady is dedicated to
analog reproduction and very excited about his product. Chris was displaying
his top of the line Teres 360, supported by the brand new (yet unnamed)
custom stand that was drop dead gorgeous! I will refer to it as the 360
stand until corrected.

The Teres sported two arms, the Schroeder
Reference with cocobolo wand and ZYX Universe cartridge (to the right in the
photograph above). The second tone arm (to the left in the above image) was
the Moerch UP-4 with Shelter Crown Jewel SE.

Another angle on the Teres 360

The Daedalus Audio DA-1 loudspeakers

Step up for the two moving coils was provided by
an Artemus PH1 tube phono. Tube amps were the Song Audio SA 300 MB driving
Lou Hinkley's Daedalus Audio DA-1 Speakers. I was highly impressed by the
musicality and beauty of this room and hope to hear more from these
companies in the future.

PFO's Lila
Ritsema and Dan Meinwald of E.A.R. USA, digging the music!

Next was Audio Federation, room 7930. I would visit this room if
for no other reason than to see Dan Meinwald's smiling face. Like Ralph
Karsten at Atma-Sphere, you cannot help but like this guy the first time you
meet him.

Audio Federation was showing the exceptional Marten Design
Coltrane speakers driven by Audio Note Kegon Amps. Although the Audio Note
provides only 22 watts per channel, beautiful music flowed into every corner
of the room.

For analog, there was a Brinkmann Balance
turntable with Brinkman tonearm and Lyra Titan cartridge. Phono stage was
the Lamm LP-2 Deluxe and Lamm L2 reference preamplifier.

Those with silver discs had state of the art
choices for their auditions as well. Audio Aero Prestige multi-channel plus
CD and EMM labs CDSD transports, decoded by the EMM Labs/Meitner DCC2 D-A
converter.

In the far corners of the room, well behind the
Martin Design speakers, were the huge Edge Electrons NL Reference solid
state amps. These were almost as large as the speakers themselves and rated
at a staggering 800 watts per channel. I did not have the opportunity to
hear them, so I cannot comment on their performance.

Overall, this room wins my award for "most
improved sound" over the previous year's set up, where Dan displayed the
same great speakers.

Next, I met with my friend Tom Lyon who was at
this year's RMAF providing support for Sistrum in two different rooms.

I caught up with him in Tower Suite 7202, where
for the second time in two years I auditioned their small bookshelf speakers
capable of larger musical images and greater dynamic contrast than I would
have thought possible.

I'm referring to the Harmonic Precision
Caravelles. The speakers are finished in beautiful gloss black; sitting on
custom stands reminiscent of the fancy ironwork in the French Quarter of New
Orleans. Tom mentioned that a newer, simpler stand design was in the works,
so perhaps others thought them a bit busy as well.

The Harmonic Precision HPM-100

The Caravelles were connected by Sonoran Plateau
speaker cables, Sonoran interconnect cables and power cables and all the
electronics were Starsound Technologies design and manufacture except for
the Shanling CD player, which I understand was heavily modified by Starsound.

In Room 7216

I made several trips to room 7216 and enjoyed
dinner one evening with Gary Dodd and Danny Richie who shared that space.
Danny was showing an entirely new speaker design from GR Research making its
world debut at Audio Fest. This is an open baffle, three-way tower with a
built in 150 watt plate amp powering the 12" woofer.

The music source was from a CEC transport
decoded by a battery powered ACK DAC with zero upsampling. Gregg Straley
provided his Reality Line cabling, utilizing a cryo treated, and spiral
copper conductor design. The amps were the Dodd Audio monoblocks,
alternating between the 120 watt EL34 tube version and the 50 watt 829B tube
design. Both amps showed their strengths with the higher power unit
producing superior dynamics and sound pressure levels and the 50 watt
version winning in the sweet seductive musicality category.

These (yet unnamed) GR Research speakers will be
sold exclusively through high end audio retailers. The suggested retail
price is between $5595 and $5995, depending on finish. Response to this
product was so great that a representative has already spoken for the line.

You know, there was so much to see and hear I
could have easily spent another day at RMAF 2005. Ironically enough, the
rooms were at their best Sunday, as everyone began congregating in the hotel
lobby in search of airport transportation.

The Rocky Mountain Audio Fest is smaller and
more intimate than CES, a reminder of times when there was less pressure on
the high-end audio community, and we could enjoy a show a lot more. If you
weren't there, you missed a great show—mark your calendar for next year.